Not content with hiring four former FDA staffers this month, Parexel is at it again, nabbing another top ex-FDA executive and promoting a former medical oncologist to boost its cancer drug development services.
The Boston CRO has poached Amy McKee, M.D., as its new lead to help build up the company’s oncology initiative; she was previously deputy director at the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence on its regulatory consulting team.
She follows four former colleagues who joined the CRO earlier this month: Kurt Brorson, Ph.D., coming off a 26-year stint within the FDA, primarily in the CDER; Changting Haudenschild, M.D., who spent 12 years at the Office of Tissue and Advanced Therapies at the CBER; Mohammad "Mo" Heidaran, Ph.D., a nine-year vet at the CBER; and Mwango Kashoki, M.D., who spent 16 years at FDA on drug review, development and regulatory work.
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McKee spent 11 years at the FDA, focusing on its cancer divisions and was responsible for assessing numerous cancer drug NMEs, with a focus on targeted therapy drug development and clinical trial endpoints.
And that’s not all: Parexel said it has also promoted Matthew Cooney, M.D., a medical oncologist most recently with University Hospitals in Cleveland. He moved up the chain to senior medical director and therapeutic area lead for oncology within Parexel’s global medical services team.
Cooney gets a swift promotion, having joined Parexel just last month, where he started out as senior medical director, global TA lead oncology/hematology within global medical services.
“As oncology trials increase and become more complex, it is imperative to Parexel that we bring together the perspectives of key stakeholders in drug development: including regulatory bodies and the patient perspective,” said Peyton Howell, chief commercial and strategy officer, at the company,
“Coming from world-renowned organizations, these experts will work across Parexel to implement an approach for our clients that takes diverse viewpoints into consideration, and ultimately drives the delivery of important new therapies to patients battling cancer.”